Computer Simulation in Geology

Abstract : The book has a threefold division. Chapters 1 and 2 deal with 'systems philosophy' and provide an introduction to the classes, uses, and constructions of simulation models. Chapters 3 to 8 deal with the fundamentals of the mathematical and computational 'tools' of simulation. Chapters 9 and 10 deal with applications of the tools to geological problems. Five sedimentation models are described in detail in Chapter 9. Other applications are surveyed in Chapter 10, including examples from ecology and paleoecology, evolution and morphology, structural geology, fluvial geomorphology, hydrology, and geochemistry and petrology. The 'tool chapters' (Chapters 3 through 8) treat a variety of mathematical techniques that we think have broad application in simulation modeling. The tools include (Chapter 3) generation and application of random variables, (Chapter 4) Markov chains, (Chapter 5) an introduction to some methods for numerically solving equations, (Chapter 6) methods of treating fluid flow and diffusion, (Chapter 7) application of elementary control-systems ideas, and (Chapter 8) optimization methods. (Author)